IoT can bring digital inclusion in India: IT & Law Minister Prasad

There will be about 20-50 billion connected devices leading to a trillion dollar connected devices economy, said IT & Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad during his video message to the first IoT India Congress event held in BangalorePankaj Maru | ETCIO | September 07, 2016, 13:12 IST

Bangalore: “IoT is important and connected devices will be the order of the day,” IT & Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a video message, addressing the first Internet of Things (IoT) India Congress held in the city.

“Digital India, Make In India, Smart Cities, Stand Up StartUp India, Skill India are all true technology functional projects and the digital profile of India looks very exciting,” Prasad added.

He viewed that these government led initiatives will have major space for IoT in the country.

Informing about India’s IT exports, he said that country earned around $1.43 billion revenue during FY 2015-16 with exports of $108 billion from IT industry.

The Indian IT sector has provided 3 million direct employments to people, of which more than 1 million employments to women.

“The Internet of Things (IoT) is an extension of IT industry and will take the IT industry to the next stage. In next 5-10 years, there will be around 20-50 billion connected devices,” he said.

Emphasizing on the digital connectivity, the union minister said that digital connectivity will be led by IoT and will make huge impact on various sectors like power, healthcare, agriculture, retail and manufacturing.

“By IoT, we can bring digital inclusion in India,” Prasad emphasized. Moreover he said that skills development will play a big role in the M2M (machine2machine) and IoT initiatives.

IoT India Congress, the first kind of three day long IoT focus event is organized by The Institution of Engineering and Technology, India IoT Panel with the support of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Information Technology – Government of India.